Retort crate unloading apparatus

ABSTRACT

Apparatus for unloading a retort crate having stacked, vertically shiftable layers of individual articles, such as glass jars or the like, wherein a convex article-engaging bail is shiftably mounted adjacent to a table top having a circular opening therethrough. The bail moves horizontally over the table to sweep the uppermost layer of articles of the retort crate laterally of the opening and onto a supporting surface adjacent thereto. The bail has substantially the same curvature as at least part of the outer boundary of the opening and, as the bail sweeps the uppermost articles off the crate, it moves into a location at which it positions a number of the articles in partially surrounding relationship to the opening. Thus, these last mentioned articles define abutments which serve to stabilize and prevent toppling of certain of the articles of the next layer to be swept off the stack.

United States Patent [1 1 Argyres Oct. 30, 1973 RETORT CRATE UNLOADINGAPPARATUS [75] Inventor: George Argyres, San Leandro, Calif.

[73] Assignee: Gerber Products Company,

Fremont, Mich.

[22] Filed: Dec. 3, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 204,432

[52] US. Cl. 214/310, 214/85 A, 214/85 F Primary Examiner-Gerald M.Forlenza Assistant Examiner-Lawrence .1. Oresky Attorney-Stephen S.Townsend et a1.

[5 7] ABSTRACT Apparatus for unloading a retort crate having stacked,vertically shiftable layers of individual articles, such as glass jarsor the like, wherein a convex articleengaging bail is shiftably mountedadjacent to a table top having a circular opening therethrough. The bailmoves horizontally over the table to sweep the uppermost layer ofarticles of the retort crate laterally of the opening and onto asupporting surface adjacent thereto. The bail has substantially the samecurvature as at least part of the outer boundary of the opening and, asthe bail sweeps the uppermost articles off the crate, it moves into alocation at which it positions a number of the articles in partiallysurrounding relationship to the opening. Thus, these last mentionedarticles define abutments which serve to stabilize and prevent topplingof certain of the articles of the next layer to be swept off the stack.

8 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures i4 1 I 38 37 K 3 I i I 39 F=l F) I l f l l iI PAIENIEDncI 30 um sum 1 UF 2 I INVENTOR. GECRGE ARGYRES l I l LPATENTEBBCI 30 ms SHEET 2 BF 2 INVENTOR GEORGE ARGYRES NQE as N)ATTORNEYS RETORT CRATE UNLOADING APPARATUS This invention relates toimprovements in jar handling equipment and, more particularly, toapparatus for unloading retort crates used to contain stacked layers offood-filled jars or similar articles.

In U.S. Pat. application, Ser. No. 846,838, filed Aug. 1, 1969 andentitled Machine for Unloading Retort Crates, now U.S. Pat. No.3,643,823, there is disclosed apparatus for positioning a retort cratecontaining a vertical shiftable stack of glass jars at a location inwhich the uppermost layer of jars can be swept laterally of and off thestack and onto a supporting surface. The sweeping means includes agenerally U-shaped bail which is mounted for reciprocation along agenerally horizontal path and has a pair of parallel sides. A powerdevice is coupled to the bail for reciprocating the same.

As the bail is moved in one direction, its sides first embrace theuppermost layer of jars of a retort crate, then the concave portion ofthe bail engages the jars and advances the same off the stack and ontothe supporting surface. Associated with the bail is a shiftable, curvedjaw which partially embraces the lead jars during their initial movementoff the stack. The jaw prevents the lead jars from toppling over as thejars behind them bump them from the rear. Otherwise, when the jarstopple over, they must be manually placed in upright positions to beproperly oriented forfurther processing, such as being fed through alabeling machine. Toppled jars will jam the entrance to a labellingmachine.

The shiftable jaw adds to the cost and maintenance of the unloadingapparatus since the jaw and its supporting and shifting structures arecomplicated in construction inasmuch as the jaw must not only movehorizontally during initial movement of the bail but also mustthereafter be elevated so that the jars can continue to moveuninterruptedly onto the supporting surface. This also means that thejaw must be progressively moved faster than the bail so that it can bequickly elevated without interrupting the travel or the orientation ofthe jaws themselves. It is, therefore, desirable to eliminate this jawto simplify the unloading process as well as to reduce costs.

The present invention is directed to improvements in the bail for aretort crate unloading apparatus of the type described and provides abail whose jar-engaging portion is the reverse of that of the onedisclosed in the above-identified patent application. To this end, theimproved bail of the present invention has a convex side or face whichengages the uppermost layer of jars and advances these jars toward andonto the supporting cent thereto. Thus, these trailing jars will serveas indi- I vidual abutments for the lead jars of the next layer to beswept off the crate and will prevent these lead jars from toppling overas they are initially swept laterally by the action of the bail. Oncethe movement of such next layer of jars starts, they will push the firstlayer further onto the supporting surface and eventually onto a conveyorwhich can then move the jars toward and into a labelling machine.

Another aspect of the invention is the provision of a pair of fixedabutments near the upstream side of the opening in the table. Theseabutments prevent the jars, as they are initially swept laterally by thebail, from passing relative to and along the convex side of the bail andinto the two side spaces formed in advance thereof because of its convexabutment configuration. Without the abutments, the jars could toppleover in these spaces. Thus, the abutments keep the jars upright as theyare shifted by the bail.

It is the primary object of this invention to provide an improved retortcrate unloading apparatus of the type described wherein the bail has aconvex portion for engaging and sweeping a layer of articles carried bythe retort crate laterally of the same with the bail stopping at alocation in which it positions the trailing jars of the layer inpartially surrounding relationship to the opening in the table top sothat such trailing jars can serve as abutments for the lead jars of thenext layer to be swept laterally by the bail.

Another object of this invention is to provide apparatus of theaforesaid character wherein the jars are prevented from moving along theconvex face of the bail as the latter sweeps the jars off onto thesupporting surface to thereby prevent toppling of the trailing jars asthey might ordinarily do during initial movement of the bail.

Other objects of this invention will become apparent as the followingspecification progresses, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings for an illustration of the improved apparatus.

IN THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a fragmentary, top plan view of a retort crateunloader, showing the improved bail of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the unloader of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is an end elevational view of the unloader looking in thedirection of line 33 of FIG. 2.

A retort crate unloader 10 used to illustrate the teachings of thepresent invention includes a horizontally disposed table top or plate 12positioned above a floor 14 (FIG. 2) by a number of vertical legs 16.Plate 12 has one end adjacent to and horizontally aligned with aconveyor 34 and has a central, circular opening 18 therein aligned withan elevating mechanism 20 adapted to support a retort crate 22. Thecrate is adapted to receive and contain a number of supports 24 forsupporting a plurality of empty glass jars 26 or the like in layers. Thesupports are vertically shiftable within the crate so that mechanism 20can incrementally elevate the support after the uppermost layer of jarsare swept off the stack and onto the upper surface of plate 12. Controlmeans (not shown) is utilized to actuate mechanism 20 so that the stackof jars can be incrementally elevated.

Unloader 10, as so far described, is conventional in construction and isespecially adapted for unloading small glass jars which have been filledwith baby food or the like and closed by respective metal caps. The jarsare initially placed in the crate and the crate is lowered into a retortfor further processing of the contents of the jars. Unloader 10 operatesto remove the jars automatically from the crate so that the jars can bedirected by a conveyor to a station for further processing, such as to alabeling machine, and are then conveyed to a packaging station forplacement in shipping containers.

'The improvement of-the present invention is directed to an arcuate bail28 having a convex end face 30 adapted to engage the jars 26 of theuppermost layer of the stack in crate 22. The ends of the bail areconnected by short bars 29, only one of which is shown in FIG. 1, to apair of side rails 32 which are parallel with each other and extendlongitudinally of plate 12 (FIG. 1), the latter defining a dead platedirectly adjacent to conveyor 34. The purpose of the bail is to sweepthe upper layers of jars toward conveyor 34 and onto the portion ofplate 12 adjacent thereto.

Rails 32 are interconnected by a cross beam 36 and the rails are mountedon plate 12 in any suitable manner for reciprocation with respect toopening 18. In this way, bail 28 can be shifted across and above opening18 and then returned to its starting position.

A fluid piston and cylinder assembly 38 has a piston rod 39 coupled withcross beam 36 and is carried by beam 37. When assembly 38 is actuated,rails 32 and thereby bail 28 are moved to the left when viewing FIG. 1and the stroke of assembly 38 is such that bail 28 moves from the fullline position of FIG. 1 to the dashed line position. In the dashed lineposition or downstream position of the bail, convex surface 30 thereofis substantially vertically aligned with the arcuate portion of opening18 at the downstream end of the opening. Thus, jars 26'advanced by themovement of the bail will stop at an arcuate region extending along thecurved, downstream portion of opening 18. These jars, denoted by thenumeral 26a in FIG. 1, will form abutments for the leading jars of thenext layer so that when such leading jars commence to move toward andonto plate 12, the abutment-defining jars 26 will prevent such leadingjars from toppling over due to the initial force applied to thecorresponding layer by bail 28.

Since bail 28 is generally symmetrically located with respect to theupstream extremity of opening 18, the rearmost group of jars of theupper layer have a tendency for moving along the bail as the bail movesto the left when viewing FIG. 1. This causes the upstream jars to have atendency to topple over, thus requiring that the toppled jars bemanually placed in upright positions. To eliminate this problem a pairof members 40 and 42 are secured to the upstream end of plate 12 asshown in FIGS. 1 and 2 to present arcuate faces 44 and 46 which arecomplemental to opening 18 as shown in FIG. 1. Thus, end faces 44 and 46prevent any side or rearward movement of the jars as bail 28 sweeps thejars to the left or forwardly when viewing FIG. 1.

In operation, unloader first receives a crate 28 filled with a stack ofjars 26 on supports 24. The crate is placed on and coupled withmechanism so that, when the latter is first actuated, the uppermostlayer of jars moves into the position shown in FIG. 2. In such position,the uppermost support 24 is horizontally aligned with plate 12.

Then assembly 38 is actuated to move bail 28 from its initial positionshown in full lines in FIG. 1 to its final position shown in dashedlines in FIG. 1. As the bail moves to the left when viewing FIG. 1, endface engages jars 26 and forces them toward and onto plate 12. Duringthis time, end faces 44 and 46 prevent side and rearward movements ofthe jars. The jars eventually stop moving when the bail reaches itsfinal position in which surface 30 is substantially vertically alignedwith the arcuate, downstream extremity of opening 18.

Bail 28 is then retracted, mechanism 20 is again actuated to move thenext layer into alignment with plate 12, and assembly 38 is againactuated to cause bail 28 to sweep the uppermost layer of jars towardand into plate 12. During the second sweep of the jars, jars 26aresulting from the first sweep present abutments to the leading jars ofthe second sweep, thus assuring that such leading jars will not toppleover so as to require manual handling to return them to uprightpositions. The foregoing process is repeated until crate 22 iscompletely unloaded. Then the crate is removed and replaced by a fullcrate of jars.

While bail 28 is described as having a convex face 30, it is to beunderstood that it could also be constructed with merely a convexleading edge. Also, members and 42 could be in the form of arcuate ribsextending partially about opening 18 rather than be plate-like units asshown in FIG. 1.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for unloading an open top retort crate containing stacked,vertically shiftable layers of articles ticles on the retort crate whenthe latter is aligned with and disposed below the opening; convex bailmeans mounted above said surface for sweeping the uppermost layer ofarticles of the retort crate laterally and onto said surface when theretort crate is aligned with the opening, said bail means having aconfiguration complemental to the downstream portion of the opening; andmeans coupled with the bail means for moving the same into a location inoverlying relationship to said downstream portion of the opening.

2. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein said bail means comprisesa member having a convex, articleengaging portion provided with a pairof opposed ends, and a pair of parallel sides secured to the ends of themember and extending in the direction of travel of the articles.

3. Apparatus as set forth in claim I, wherein said surface is defined bya dead plate which partially extends around the opening, and a conveyorat the downstream end of the dead plate, the bail means being movable toa position aligned with the portion of the opening directly adjacent tothe dead plate.

4. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein said bail means includes apair of opposed ends, and including a pair of parallel sides secured toand projecting forwardly from respective ends of the bail, and whereinis included means defining a projection partially surrounding theupstream side of the opening and operable for preventing movement ofarticles into the regions adjacent to the ends of the bail as the lattersweeps the articles toward said surface.

tially complemental to said open top of the retort crate and asupporting surface extending laterally from the opening, said tablehaving means therebeneath permitting the crate to move into verticalalignment with the opening to thereby permit the stack of layers to beincrementally elevated to raise the uppermost layer through the openingand into an operative position to be swept laterally and onto the table;an arcuate bail having a pair of opposed ends; a pair of sides securedto respective ends of the bail and extending toward the table onopposite sides of said opening; means shiftably mounting the bail on thetable with the convex side of the opening as the same moves downstreamthereof.

1. Apparatus for unloading an open top retort crate containing stacked,vertically shiftable layers of articles comprising: means defining agenerally horizontal surface having an opening therethrough with anarcuate downstream portion for receiving the upper layer of articles onthe retort crate when the latter is aligned with and disposed below theopening; convex bail means mounted above said surface for sweeping theuppermost layer of articles of the retort crate laterally and onto saidsurface when the retort crate is aligned with the opening, said bailmeans having a configuration complemental to the downstream portion ofthe opening; and means coupled with the bail means for moving the sameinto a location in overlying relationship to said downstream portion ofthe opening.
 2. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein said bailmeans comprises a member having a convex, article-engaging portionprovided with a pair of opposed ends, and a pair of parallel sidessecured to the ends of the member and extending in the direction oftravel of the articles.
 3. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1, whereinsaid surface is defined by a dead plate which partially extends aroundthe opening, and a conveyor at the downstream end of the dead plate, thebail means being movable to a position aligned with the portion of theopening directly adjacent to the dead plate.
 4. Apparatus as set forthin claim 1, wherein said bail means includes a pair of opposed ends, andincluding a pair of parallel sides secured to and projecting forwardlyfrom respective ends of the bail, and wherein is included means defininga projection partially surrounding the upstream side of the opening andoperable for preventing movement of articles into the regions adjacentto the ends of the bail as the latter sweeps the articles toward saidsurface.
 5. Apparatus as set forth in claim 4, wherein said opening iscircular, said projection being arcuate and being complemental to saidupstream side of the opening.
 6. Apparatus as set forth in claim 5,wherein said projection includes a pair of spaced plates, the platesextending away from and upstream of the opening.
 7. Apparatus forunloading an open top retort crate having stacked, vertically shiftablelayers of jars therein comprising: a table having a circular openingsubstantially complemental to said open top of the retort crate and asupporting surface extending laterally from the opening, said tablehaving means therebeneath permitting the crate to move into verticalalignment with the opening to thereby permit the stack of layers to beincrementally elevated to raise the uppermost layer through the openingand into an operative position to be swept laterally and onto the table;an arcuate bail having a pair of opposed ends; a pair of sides securedto respective ends of the bail and extending toward the table onopposite sides of said opening; means shiftably mounting the bail on thetable with the convex side of the bail movable from a first positionupstReam of the opening to a second position aligned with the downstreamboundary of the opening, whereby the bail will sweep the uppermost layerof jars laterally of the opening and onto the table; and means coupledwith the bail for moving the same from the first position to the secondposition and return.
 8. Apparatus as set forth in claim 7, wherein isincluded means adjacent to the upstream side of the opening forpreventing jars from moving upstream of the opening as the same movesdownstream thereof.